Mon, 06 Oct 2008: Message from Phoenix

Dear Family,

Hi! First of all, THANK YOU for that letter! Ask my companion--I was so excited reading all those notes from everybody. That really made my mission. In case I don't get a chance later, please tell everyone I loved their notes, and I love them.

This week was good, except we were sick. Bleh. Sick stomach stuff that's been going around. Actually, last Tuesday we stayed home because I had the aches and sick stomach and I had to go to the bathroom every ten minutes. And we were out of mileage for our car.

Here's the story: Each month we can only drive 1075 miles (and we have a pretty big area, so we have to be careful) and last Monday we pulled into the parking spot at EXACTLY 1075.0. I'll send you the picture. So Tuesday was the last day of the month, and we couldn't drive but we had an appointment in the morning. I was feeling sick, but we really wanted to get over and talk to this woman--because we needed to drop her because she wasn't keeping her commitments. Anyway, so we decided to walk. 4 miles. In the Phoenix sun. Actually, it was pretty pleasant relatively because there was a nice breeze, but it was still 4 miles. We got there I was about ready to throw up (because I was sick, if you remember) and yeah, it was fun. After the lesson we called the English Elders in our area to come give us a ride, and then we called Sister Beck and stayed home the rest of the day. It was well needed.

We've had a slow week because of us both being sick, so not a lot of work done--but the work we did get to was pretty awesome. These Elders in our district handed us this AMAZING referral in our area--a woman they're teaching had a friend who was interested. Her name is Patti, and her husband is Daniel, and they have two daughters 10 and 15. They are so golden. We went over to their house, sat down with them, and "built a relationship of trust"--which is what the Church calls making friends--and then we taught a little. We read a paragraph from the Family Proclamation and Daniel says--you guys need to make copies of this and put them up everywhere, because no one seems to care about their duties as parents anymore. It was amazing. They're such a loving family--basically a bunch of dry Mormons it sounds like. Please pray for them--we REALLY are hoping for success with these guys. They're so sweet!

And it was Hna. Corless's birthday on Saturday--the big 25! This was so cute--we had dinner with a family that we've been teaching (the parents were less-active members and they're coming back and their 12-yr-old daughter wants to be baptized--her baptism is on Sunday). Anyway, we went there for dinner--they threw her a party! They are the SWEETEST family! Oh my gosh, we love them. It's grandma (active member) mom and dad (coming back as active members) and two daughters--Melissa (12) and Elissa (6). They made everything home-made--carne asada (like thinly cut steak) guacamole, salsa, and flour tortillas. It was AMAZING. And then the cake--holy cow. Tres Leches, which is basically cake that has milk stuff poured over afterwards to make it kinda juicy. It is SO GOOD, and they made that for her. Amazing. She had a good birthday. I bought her a dog book, because she loves dogs. I think her and Katy would get along very well.

What else? We have three baptisms planned for this weekend, so hopefully those will all go alright. Two of them think they might be moving this week. . . Pray for them too, ok?

I have seen some amazing things. Even with people who didn't want the gospel, but we still were able to share the love the Savior has for them. This man Ed we have been talking to flat out told us he wasn't interested in learning more. But, more important than that, we left his house as friends. Maybe we gave him an idea that Heavenly Father really does love him. If nothing else, we were able to be real Christians and invite without arguing, and leaving without any contention. It was pretty cool.

I'm going to go now, because I have a lot of letters to write back to. I pray for you guys every night, and I love you so much. Have you had the chance to study Preach My Gospel? It's pretty much amazing. This work is definitely the work of God, and I feel His presence around me.

I love you, and I'll talk to you again soon.

Love,
Hna. Crowley